The University of Glasgow is testing a DogPhone that would allow dogs left alone at home to contact their master.
A motion sensor hidden in a ball, linked to a laptop computer, allows the animal to initiate a video call by shaking the toy. But how do you make the animal understand that the ball is used to make its master appear on the screen? Zack, the Labrador of Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas, a specialist in animal-computer interaction, made a lot of unintended calls. But he also seemed eager at times to see his mistress and bring her his favorite toys in front of the screen. To those who wonder about an unreasonable desire to treat our dogs like humans, Zack’s mistress reminds us that the DogPhone is not designed for masters but for animals who are stressed alone at home.